Kenya Airways Drops Bid to Takeover JKIA Operations

Kenya Airways (KQ) says it has formally withdrawn its Privately Initiated Investment Proposal (PIIP) seeking to take over the operations of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The proposal, which was submitted to Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Public-Private Partnership Committee (PPP) and the National Treasury in October 2018, was rejected by Members of Parliament in February this year.

“The deal seems to only benefit KQ which is a loss-making institution compared to KAA which made a profit of Ksh3.8 billion,” National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee chairman, Abdullswamad Nassir noted.

MPs instead recommended the setting up of an Aviation Holding Company to amalgamate the country’s aviation assets, including the nationalization of KQ.

KQ’s decision to drop JKIA takeover bid was announced on Monday by the airline’s CEO Sebastian Mikosz.

“KQ’s Board and Management believe that the PIIP has catalyzed important discourse about the future of Kenya’s civil aviation, which is now being led by the Government of Kenya. Kenya Airways looks forward to continued collaboration with all involved stakeholders of the process,” said Mikosz in a statement.